


R/S Games 2017 - Celebrating a Decade: Anniversaries, Landmarks, and Milestones

by RS_Games



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: rs_games, M/M, Marauders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-07-19 22:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7380628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RS_Games/pseuds/RS_Games
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An explanation of what the Games are, and how they operate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	R/S Games 2017 - Celebrating a Decade: Anniversaries, Landmarks, and Milestones

Can you believe that we have been at this for ten years? RS_Games officially began in 2007 and has continued to entertain participants, mods, readers, viewers, and voters since its inception. Over the years, it has evolved and changed, but the core idea of making friends through friendly competition and love of our ship has always remained. Our first year featured two rounds and no initial theme, but since then we’ve had different themes (and several different Team designations) each year. Below is tour of the last decade:

  * 2007/2008 - No theme/horoscopes - Team MWPP v. Team Post-Hogwarts
  * 2009 - Over the Rainbow - Team Canon v. Team AU
  * 2010 - Music: It’s What Life Sounds Like - Team Canon v. Team AU
  * 2011 - Life is a Journey, Not a Destination - Team Remus v. Team Sirius
  * 2012 - Tell Me a Story - Team Remus v. Team Sirius
  * 2013 - For Everything There is a Season - Team MWPP v. Team Post-Hogwarts
  * 2014 - Perception: The Five Senses - Team Magic v. Team Muggle
  * 2015 - The Sky’s the Limit: The Sky, the Heavens, and Celestial Bodies - Team Moon (Remus) v. Team Star (Sirius)
  * 2016 - There’s a Time and a Place for Everything - Team Time v. Team Place



Sadly, however, this will be our final year for RS_Games. The change to LiveJournal’s TOS has proven to be the final nail in the coffin. To avoid any possible issues, we’re moving the Games to DW. As with last year, the pieces will be posted on AO3 (Archive of Our Own), but most other action (including sign-ups, team communities, inter-team action. etc.) will be posted on DW.

We are sad that things are drawing to a close, but it feels like time. Ten years is a good, long run for any fest. The work we have done, along with our participants, has generated hundreds of fanworks for our beloved OTP over the years, including some genuine classics. We couldn’t ask for more than that.

 

**GENERAL OVERVIEW:**

Welcome to RS_Games 2017! After ten years, the tradition continues.

As always, the Games are about having fun and spreading the love of our favorite ship - not to mention going for Puppyshippers Gold. Sure, it’s technically a competition between teams, but the truth is, The Games are really more about making friends, telling stories, finding the right time and place to be creative, and having a good time.

As in previous years, two teams will compete by creating the best possible stories and artwork, which will then be viewed and voted upon. Think of it as collaborating to create a body of work -- a book of stories both visual and narrative which represent your Team’s point of view. You have about twelve weeks to do this, and during that time, there will be team activities, inter-team activities, and all kinds of fun.

In October, posting begins on AO3, with links on DW and Tumblr. Works will be posted anonymously each day, and readers will vote on them. These works are not in competition against each other. Voters will evaluate each work independently.

At the end of the Games, the votes will be tallied as points. The team with the highest average score will be declared the winner. But really, everyone wins. The fandom at large gets to read, view, and vote on some of the best Wolfstar fics and artworks around, and the participants get to make friends, tell stories, and create great new Wolfstar works.

 **NOTE:** You will need a DreamWidth account to participate. There is no requirement concerning how active you need to be, but a large part of the fun of R/S Games is interacting in your team community and inter-team activities. You can sign up [here](https://www.dreamwidth.org/create).

 

**ABOUT OUR THEME:**

_For I have known them all already, known them all:_  
_Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,_  
_I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;_  
\- “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot

 _In - five hundred twenty-five thousand_  
_Six hundred minutes_  
_How do you measure_  
_A year in the life_  
\- “Seasons of Love” from _Rent_  

How do we measure life? What landmarks dot our paths? This year’s theme is about celebrations - not just our ten year anniversary, but recognitions of landmarks and milestones of any kind. Throughout our lives we each experience myriad anniversaries, landmarks, and milestones of many different types, and those experiences form the core of this year’s theme. They need not always be pretty or personal, but they must be recognized.

As always with the Games, the theme is merely an organizing principle, intended to inspire and pull everything together. Your piece could center around anything from an AU 20th wedding anniversary celebration on a spacecraft to a canon tale of the familiar milestone, the Willow Prank. It can center around a super subtle turning point or a dreamy, distant memory. It can be anything you wish!

 

**ABOUT OUR TEAMS:**

To celebrate our anniversary, we’re going for an old classic: Team Remus v. Team Sirius. You can pick your favorite character - or the one you most relate to - but, in the end, your piece needs to be somehow focused or centered on that character. This does NOT mean that, if you are on Team Remus, the story has to be written from his POV - it could well be from Sirius’ POV, if he’s thinking about Remus. The reader or viewer just needs to be able to really _feel_ that character.

 

**TIMELINE:**

  * Sign-ups begin  **Wednesday, June 14th,**  and last through **Monday, June 19th** , ending at 11:59 PM EST (UTC -5).
  * Teams will be announced  **Wednesday, June 21st**.
  * Prompt table goes up **Thursday, June 22nd,** and closes **Monday, June 26th** , at 11:59 PM **.**
  * Works are due by **Wednesday, September 20th** , at 11:59 PM.
  * Posting begins **Monday, October 2nd**. The end date of posting will be determined by the number of participants.
  * The winning team will be revealed in  **November**.



 

**SIGN-UPS:**

Sign-ups begin  **Wednesday, June 14th,**  and last through  **Monday, June 19th** , ending at 11:59 PM EST (UTC -5). Please comment using the following information: 

 

> **dreamwidth user name:**  
>  **real name (optional)/tumblr user name/ao3 user name:** Real names are kept confidential, but can help with matching emails to participants. AO3 names are essential for handing off works to their owners at the end of the Games period.  
>  **artist or author?:** You are welcome to choose "Either" or "Both", if you wish.  
>  **email/other best contact:** It is essential that we be able to contact you in some way. Please note that Games works are usually submitted by email.  
>  **country/city/state/location:** This is just to give us an idea of your time zone and general location. Participant locations are kept confidential.  
>  **team choice:** We try to give everyone their first choice, but it's not always possible, if we want to keep the teams even. Please let us know which team you would prefer, and how strong your preference is. Feel free to say "either", if you have no strong preference.  
>  **is there anything else you want to tell us?** Let us know if there are any accommodations you need, or any times when you will be away from your computer for an extended period.

 

**TEAM COMMUNITIES:**

One of the most important aspects of the Games is to meet people and have fun. Team communities are closed-membership spaces where you can get to know your teammates, share your works in progress, ask for help, and cheer each other on. You will need a DreamWidth membership in order to participate in your team community. Official posts include: Introductory post, where everyone gets to know each other; Team Captain nominations and voting; Team Activity posts, where the team works together or competes to complete a challenge; Beta posts, where team members volunteer and solicit the help of beta readers; Check-in posts, where the mods find how everyone is feeling about their work. Any team member may post to their team community at any time. These communities belong to you!

 

**PROMPT SELECTION:**

Prompt table goes up  **Thursday, June 22nd,**  and closes  **Monday, June 26th** , at 11:59 PM **.** Prompts are first come, first served, with a cap of no more than 3 participants per prompt. Select your top five prompts, in order, and we will do our best to give you your first or second choice, if possible. Please be sure to choose your prompt by the end of the prompt selection period. Let us know if you will be unavailable during this time, so that we can accommodate you. Once your prompt choice has been confirmed by the mods, you may begin work on your Games entry.

 

**SUBMISSION:**

Works are due by  **Wednesday, September 20th** , at 11:59 PM. Please submit your works by email, by the submission deadline, using the following format:

 

> **Subject line:** [username] - [team] - [fic or art] - [title] (this helps us find things easily in our inbox)
> 
> **< b>User Name:</b>** (will be deleted before posting)  
>  **< b>Team:</b>  
> ** **< b>Title:</b>  
> ** **< b>Rating:</b>** (Explicit, Mature, Teen, General)  
>  **< b>Warnings:</b>** (please use AO3 warnings as a guide, including additional warnings for any potentially triggering, troubling, or explicit subject matter, or just say "none")  
>  **< b>Genres:</b>** (include up to three main genres: drama, romance, smut, fluff, angst, horror, sci-fi, etc.; indicate whether canon-compliant or AU)  
>  **< b>Word Count:</b>** (for fic only; round number estimate is fine)  
>  **< b>Summary:</b>  
> ** **< b>Notes:</b>** (any thank yous [initials only for fellow participants, to preserve anonymity], or additional information about your work)  
>  **< b>Prompt:</b>** #X - copy text of quote, or include a few words describing picture or a/v prompt
> 
> Any other major characters or pairings included in this work:  
>  Any additional tags you would like added:
> 
> **Fic/Art Below:**

(You may either copy and paste the text of your fic in the body of the email, or attach it as a text document)

(Please attach art)

 

**VOTING:**

Participants and mods are not permitted to vote in the Games. Voting is for the general fandom public only.

Works will be judged by readers based on three criteria, with a maximum of 20 points possible:

  1. Does the focus of the fic or art match the team designation of the work? (yes = 2, sort of = 1, no = 0)
  2. How well did the author or artist use their prompt? (1-9, 1 being least)
  3. How much did you like this fic or art overall? (1-9, 1 being least)



Works are not in competition against each other, but are evaluated independently. Final scores are determined based on averages, so it doesn't matter if one work gets more votes than another, or one team has more entries than the other. The team with the highest average score wins!

 

**RULES:**

  1. **Civility:** Offensive or hurtful comments will not be tolerated. The Games holds firm to the old saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Please inform mods immediately of any problems.


  1. **Fic Length & Art Size: **Stories should be at least 1500 words. While there is no maximum word count, please keep in mind that there are a lot of Games works posted over a short period of time, and readers may not be able to keep up if there are too many epics in the mix. We encourage you to write as your muse directs you, but please don’t forget your audience, or the mods, who must read over every submission. Art has no size requirements, but keep in mind the size of most people’s screens. If the image is too large, it can become unwieldy, and some people may have trouble viewing it. If it is too small, people may have difficulty seeing it clearly.


  1. **Crossovers:** Not a rule, so much as a guideline, but please bear in mind that not everyone who reads and votes on the Games may be familiar with the other world you are crossing over with. Unfamiliarity may hurt reader interest and score. Make crossovers as reader-friendly as possible, or avoid doing them.


  1. **Editing, Coding, and Formatting:** All fics should be looked over by a beta reader, in order to minimize typos and other textual issues. You are responsible for any formatting and coding your fic requires. Bear in mind that works are posted directly onto AO3, using whatever coding you include in them, and whatever coding AO3 allows. If your fic requires specialized coding that can only be done at the time of posting, figure it out and let the mods know about it in advance. If you want to be sure of how your work will look when it is posted, try uploading it to your AO3 drafts before submitting it.


  1. **Deadlines:** Please submit your work to the official Games email account by the designated deadline. If you do not receive confirmation of your submission within 24 hours, please contact the mods ASAP. If you are unable to finish on time, please contact the mod team by email to request an extension. Late works without an extension will impact your score, and hurt your team's chances of winning. One half point will be deducted for every day past the deadline. If you feel unable to complete your work by the end of the Games, please contact the mods. We understand that sometimes life happens. Once you have officially resigned from the Games, you are free to vote.


  1. **Anonymity:** All Games works are posted anonymously, for the sake of fairness. We want even the newest of newbies to have to same chance at getting recognition for their work as the biggest Big Name Fan. This means no sharing of works in progress, or even prompt choice, outside of team communities. The only exception to this rule is your beta reader, who can be someone outside the Games. Please do not divulge the authorship of any work before the end of the voting period. Promote the Games, support your team, but keep quiet about who made what. If you are caught breaking this rule, your work may be eliminated from the Games.


  1. **Voting & Scoring:** Again, for the sake of fairness, mods and participants are not permitted to vote. We operate somewhat on the honor system, so please be mindful of this rule. If you vote by accident, let the mods know, so that we can look out for and disregard your vote. All participants are, however, welcome to post admiring comments. Mods are not permitted to comment, to avoid any appearance of favoritism. Overall team scores are posted at the end of the Games, but individual scores are not. We want this to be a fun, positive experience for all, and finding out your score was lower than someone else's is a recipe for hurt feelings, and may cause some to be discouraged from participating in the future.




End file.
